Dream interpretation: Naked in public

Have you ever dreamed of being naked in public? It’s a very common dream theme. What does it mean?

The details of your dream will be different from everyone else’s but the common theme is that you are in public, for example, at work or in the street, when you suddenly realise that you are naked or partly naked.

It’s important to ask yourself, first, how you felt about being naked in your dream. Did you feel horrified or did you feel good about it? How you felt, as with all dreams, can change the interpretation. Feelings in dreams are extremely important.

When you are naked in a dream you are revealing your true self. There’s no hiding behind clothes, even though you may try, in your dream, to cover yourself up with whatever’s around. Your true self is exposed.

This dream is all about feeling exposed and about how confident you do – or don’t – feel about your true self being seen in public. If your dream is set at work, for example, it is about how you feel about your work colleagues seeing right through you – to the real you.

If, in your dream, you didn’t like the feeling, then this dream is about your feelings of vulnerability about being exposed.

If, in your dream, you felt comfortable being naked, then this dream is about your comfort with revealing your true self.

The details in your dream, once interpreted, pinpoint the actual situation this issue of exposure – of vulnerability, truthfulness and trust – is about.

A radio presenter once told me that he had the Naked in Public dream frequently and always felt distressed about finding himself exposed.

Once he understood what his dream was about he said he related it to being a radio presenter and worrying about how to keep his personal life and views separate from his working persona.

He thought about this and decided that as his feelings of vulnerability weren’t doing anything for him, he chose to simply be himself from that moment on, whenever he was on air. He decided that if the listeners or his employers didn’t like it, that was their problem. As a result he enjoyed his job more, his worry disappeared along with his recurring dream, and his listeners enjoyed his show more.

Another person with this kind of dream might have decided to be more protective of their private life. The details of your unique dream usually guide you towards your decision and that decision is always yours. Being able to make such decisions based on fresh and accurate insight into yourself from a dream is powerful.